This invention relates to infra-red radiant heater systems and to rotatably adjustable reflectors for the systems.
An infra-red heater of the present type generally involves a system in which a heated fluid is passed through a tubular conduit to heat the conduit. The conduit directly radiates heat waves to an adjacent area and preferably acts in conjunction with a reflector, adjacent to and spaced from the conduit, that directs the heat in a desired direction.
Infra-red radiant heater systems are useful to warm entire commercial or industrial spaces. By using a heater system of this type, it is possible to effectively warm objects on loading docks, near open doorways, or anywhere conditions cause a high heat loss.
Problems have arisen which have hampered the usefulness of infra-red heaters, among which are insufficient heat supplied to areas in which heat is needed, non-uniform heat supplied to an area adjacent the length of the conduit, and too much heat directed to certain areas adjacent sections of the conduit.
Prior arrangements use reflectors supported by hangers supported from ceilings or other overhead structures. Typically, the support members for the reflectors also directly support the tubular conduit. Many of these reflectors have a fixed position and can reflect heat from a conduit only toward a single area. Often a fixed reflector does not direct heat precisely toward a desired object, especially where the location of the object to be heated is shifted from an original position. Further, since the temperature of the tubular conduit decreases in the downstream direction of fluid flow due to the drop in temperature of the fluid as it passes through the conduit, the heat waves radiated by the conduit and reflected by the reflector are of differing intensity along the length of the conduit. As a consequence, often either too much or too little heat was directed by the fixed reflector to certain areas adjacent sections of the tubular conduit.
Some known reflectors allow adjustment to vary the direction of reflected heat, but this adjustment is small and is limited by support members for the tubular conduit.
Because of the above shortcomings and others of known heaters, a need exists for an infra-red heater system having a full range of adjustment in directing heat reflected along a tubular conduit with the ability to vary the direction of heat reflected along the conduit and to vary the concentration of reflected heat at given areas along the length of the conduit.